Contradicting President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) claims on Sunday that he hoped to see an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) signed with China no later than next year, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) told the legislature yesterday that there was no set timetable.
“Members of ASEAN and China will enact zero customs tax starting on Jan. 1 next year, and Taiwanese businesses are under extreme pressure to see to it that the ECFA is completed before this deadline and an early harvest clause is drawn,” Yiin said.
He said that the ministry would finish all relevant ECFA-related research by the end of next month and proceed with cross-strait trade talks in the following three months.
“If there is not too much difference between the two sides, Taiwan will be ready to sign the ECFA then. If, however, the issue of sovereignty is brought up, all discussions will cease immediately,” he said.
Although Yiin admited to the urgency of signing an ECFA, he said things were proceeding methodically and would not be forced into rushing into anything, he said.
In addition, the minister said that although domestic gasoline prices have been hiked three times over the past three weeks, there is no measure or strategy to stop the increasing trend.
“We are currently sticking with a floating oil price mechanism and have no plans to deviate from it, unless one liter of 92 gasoline goes above NT$30,” Yiin said, echoing comments made by CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) president Chu Shao-hua (朱少華).
The current fuel prices for the state-owned oil refiner for one liter of 98-octane, 95-octane and 92-octane unleaded gasoline are NT$28.3, NT$26.8, and NT$26.1, respectively. Meanwhile, diesel is now at NT$23.4 per liter.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last